HOLY TRINITY
Introduction to the Trinity
The concept of the Trinity is confusing and difficult for a lot of people, even many Christians. The term “Trinity” is defined by the Encyclopedia Britannica as “The unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three persons in one Godhead. The doctrine of the Trinity is considered to be one of the central Christian affirmations about God.”
Christians believe there is only one God, and this one God exists as one essence in three Persons.
The three Persons are:
- God the Father
- God the Son (Jesus Christ)
- God the Holy Spirit (also called the Holy Ghost)
Early Christians used this diagram to explain the Trinity. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all God, but they are not three names for the same Person.
The Persons are distinct:
- The Father is not the Son.
- The Son is not the Holy Spirit.
- The Holy Spirit is not the Father.
The term “persons” is often difficult for us to relate to, as we tend to think of separate “people”. We here at LearningGod.org focus on a Biblical interpretation of what this means. As such we prefer to think of the Trinity as 3 different ways in which God interacts with the world, or His creation.
As a way to relate, you can think of water as we do when we have a glass of it. It is liquid when we drink it. It can also be frozen as Ice and also heated up and turned into steam. It is 3 forms of the same substance. In this example, the change in state is dictated by the temperature at which we encounter it. This is a simple way to relate to what God is doing to interact with us and the Universe. See Why Did God Create the Universe for more information on this. In our lesson on Who and What is God, we cover concept of the Trinity at a more summary level. Here, we will dive into the details.
Understanding the Trinity
The Father
He is the Spiritual aspect of God. He has no physical form.
“And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.” (Deu 4:12 KJV)
“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (Jhn 5:37 KJV)
“And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.” (Jhn 5:37 KJV)
The Son
He is the physical form of God in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus was present at and responsible for the creation of the universe and everything in it.
“All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (Jhn 1:3 KJV)
Jesus, being the physical manifestation of God, only did the will of the Father, not His own physical desire.
“For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me.” (Jhn 6:38 KJV)
The Holy Spirit
He is the manifestation of the spirit of God in each of the believers. The Holy Spirit dwells within us as our “Helper” to guide us to righteous living, as desired by the Father. This is the spirit of Christ, which is what enables the believers to be seen by the Father as the Body of Christ. When the Father sees a believer, He see the spirit of Christ living within and that is how we are seen as righteous and pure. It is Christ that covers our sins with His blood.
“And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” (Eze 36:27 KJV)
“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” (1Co 6:19 KJV)
Jesus had to ascend to Heaven in order to send the Holy Spirit. While He was in this world, the spirit of God was in Him. When He returns to Heaven, He can then send His spirit to live in each of us who believe in Him.
“Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.” (Jhn 16:7 KJV)
What the Trinity Is Not
When Christians talk about believing in one God in three Persons (the Trinity), they do NOT mean:
- 1 God in 3 Gods, or
- 3 Persons in 1 Person, or
- 3 Persons in 3 Gods, or
- 1 Person in 3 Gods
A biblical understanding sees God as one being in 3 forms. Christianity does not believe in 3 Gods, but is monotheistic. There is only one God.
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD.” (Deu 6:4 KJV)
“…before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.” (Isa 43:10 KJV)
Yet God clearly sees Himself as a plural.
“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” (Gen 1:26 KJV)
“And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us…” (Gen 3:22 KJV)
“Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” (Gen 11:7 KJV)
Interestingly, in the original Hebrew language, there is a grammatical error every time God speaks of Himself as a plural. The verb usage assumes a singular, even though the plural word is used! That is like us saying in English “we is” instead of the grammatically correct “we are”. This is clearly done on purpose to demonstrate the singularity of the 3 forms of being.
Faulty Arguments Against the Trinity
Argument #1
“The word ‘Trinity ’ does not appear in the Bible; it is a belief made up by Christians in the 4th century.”
Explanation: It is true that the word “Trinity” does not appear in the Bible, but the Trinity is nevertheless a Bible-based belief. The word “incarnation” does not appear in the Bible either, but we use it as a one-word summary of our belief that Jesus was God in the flesh.
The word “Trinity” was used to explain the eternal relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Many Bible passages express the Trinity. False beliefs flourished during the early days of Christianity, and still do. Early Christians constantly defended their beliefs. The following early church leaders and/or writings all defended the doctrine of the Trinity long before 300ad:
Approximate Dates:
- Clement, the third bishop of Rome (96ad)
- Ignatius, bishop of Antioch (90ad?)
- The Teachings of the Twelve Apostles, the “Didache” (90-100ad)
- Justin Martyr, great Christian writer (155ad)
- Theophilus, the sixth bishop of Antioch (168ad)
- Athenagoras, theologian (177ad)
- Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons (180ad)
- Tertullian, early church leader (197ad)
- Gregory Thaumaturgus, early church leader (264ad)
Argument #2
“Christians believe there are three Gods.”
Explanation: Christians believe in only one God. Some people might believe that Christians are polytheists (people who believe in many gods) because Christians refer to the Father as God, the Son as God, and the Holy Spirit as God. But Christians believe in only one God. The Bible says there is only one God. But it also calls three distinct Persons “God.” See Understanding the Trinity above.
Without the Trinity, the Christian doctrine of salvation cannot stand. Some religious groups that claim to believe in the God of the Bible, but reject the Trinity, have an understanding of salvation that is based on good works.
St. Patrick is believed to have used the shamrock as a way of illustrating the Trinity. He asked, “Is this one leaf or three? If one leaf, why are there three lobes of equal size? If three leaves, why is there just one stem? If you cannot explain so simple a mystery as the shamrock, how can you hope to understand one so profound as the Holy Trinity?” Even though this is an overly simple way to explain the Trinity, some teachers find it helpful.
Argument #3
“Jesus is not God.”
Explanation: Jesus is God, the Second Person of the Trinity.
- Jesus’ own claims
- He forgave sin. We may forgive sins committed against us, but we cannot forgive sins committed against others. Jesus has the authority to forgive any sin. (Mark 2:5–12; Luke 5:21)
- He accepted worship as God and claimed to deserve the same honor as the father. (Matt. 14:33; 28:17–18; John 5:22–23; 9:38; 17:5)
- He claimed to be the divine son of God, a title the Jews rightly understood to be a claim to equality with God. (John 5:17–18; 10:30-33; 19:7)
- Jesus and God share traits (see table below)
| Traits Unique to God | Traits of Jesus |
|---|---|
|
Creation is ”the work of his hands”—
Alone (Gen 1:1; Ps 102:25; Isa 44:24)
|
Creation is ”the work of his hands”
All things created in and through Him
(John 1:3; Col 1:16; Heb 1:2, 10)
|
|
“The first and the last” (Isa. 44:6) |
“The first and the last” (Rev. 1:17; 22:13) |
|
“Lord of lords” (Deut. 10:17; Ps. 136:3) |
“Lord of lords” (1 Tim. 6:15; Rev. 17:14; 19:16) |
|
Unchanging and eternal (Ps. 90:2; 102:26-27;
Mal 3:6)
|
Unchanging and eternal (John 8:58; Col 1:17;
Heb 1:11-12, 13:8)
|
|
Judge of all people (Gen. 18:25; Ps. 94:2;
96:13; 98:9)
|
Judge of all people (John 5:22; Acts 17:31;
2 Cor 5:10; 2 Tim 4:1)
|
|
Only Savior; no other God can save
(Isa 43:11; 45:21-22; Hos 13:4) |
Savior of the world; no salvation apart from
Him (John 4:42; Acts 4:12; Titus 2:13; 1 John 4:14) |
|
Redeems from their sins a people for His
own possession (Ex 19:5; Ps. 130:7-8; Eze 37:23) |
Redeems from their sins a people for His
own possession (Titus 2:14) |
|
Hears and answers prayers of those who
Call on Him (Ps. 86:5; Isa 55:6-7; Jer 33:3; Joel 2:32) |
Hears and answers prayers of those who
call on Him (John 14:14; Rom 10:12-13; 1 Cor 1:2; 2 Cor 12:8-9) |
|
Only God has divine glory (Isa. 42:8; 48:11) |
Jesus has divine glory (John 17:5) |
|
Worshiped by angels (Ps. 97:7) |
Worshiped by angels (Heb. 1:6) |
Argument #4
“Jesus is a lesser God than the Father.”
Explanation: Jesus is co-equal with God the Father. People who deny this truth may use the following arguments and verses. (These heresies date back to Arius, 319ad.)
Verses wrongly used to teach that Christ was created
Colossians 1:15: If Christ is “the first born of all creation,” was he created?
Answer: “Firstborn ” cannot mean that Christ was created, because Paul says that all of creation was made in and for Christ, and that he exists before all creation and holds it together (Col. 1:16–17). The “firstborn” traditionally was the main heir. In context Paul is saying that Christ, as God’s Son, is the main heir of all creation (verses 12–14).
John 3:16: Does “only begotten Son” mean Jesus had a beginning?
Answer: “Only-begotten” does not mean that Jesus had
a beginning; it does not mean He was born; it means that Jesus is God’s “unique” or “only” Son. There is only physical manifestation of God, and that is Jesus Christ. In Hebrews 11:17, Isaac is called Abraham ’s “unique” son, even though Abraham had other children (Gen. 22:2; 25:1–6). Jesus is God’s unique Son because only Jesus is fully God and eternally the Father’s Son (John 1:1–3, 14–18).
Proverbs 8:22: Does this mean that Christ (“Wisdom”) was “created ”?
Answer: This does not say Christ was created; it is a personification of wisdom. InProverbs 8:23 (KJV) it says, “I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.” Jesus was “brought forth” (Proverbs 8:24), not created. He was there before the creation of the universe. To be brought form from the beginning means to be made manifest. That is another way of saying that the energy of God (spiritual) became flesh (physical). It is simply God changing from one form into another. In order to bring about the physical universe God became physical Himself.
Verses Wrongly Used to Teach that Jesus is Inferior to the Father
John 14:28: If “the Father is greater than” Jesus, how can Jesus be God?
Answer: In his human life on earth Jesus voluntarily shared our natural limitations in order to save us. After he rose from the dead, Jesus returned to the glory he had with the Father (John 17:5; Phil. 2:9–11). In that restored glory, Jesus was able to send the Holy Spirit and empower his disciples to do even greater works than Jesus did while he was here in the flesh (John 14:12, 26–28).
1 Corinthians 15:28: If Jesus is God, why will he be subject to the Father?
Answer: Jesus humbly and voluntarily submits himself to the Father’s will for a time (Phil. 2:5–11). But, as the pre-existent and eternal Son, he is co-equal with God the Father.
Mark 13:32: If Jesus is God, how could he not know when he would return?
Answer: Jesus voluntarily lowered himself to experience
the limitations of human life. Paradoxically, while Jesus continued to be God, he chose to limit his access to knowledge (John 16:30). Paradoxes like this (not contradictions) are exactly what we would expect if, as the Bible says, God chose to live as a real human being (John 1:1, 14).
Irenaeus, early church leader (177ad), writes, “Now the Church,…received from the apostles and their disciples its faith in one God, and the father Almighty, who made the heaven, and the earth, and the seas, and all that is in them, and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who was made flesh for our salvation, and in the Holy Spirit, who through the prophets proclaimed the dispensations of God…”
Argument #5
“The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are just different titles for Jesus, or three different ways that God has revealed himself.”
Explanation: The Bible clearly shows that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct persons.
Some people think that the doctrine of the Trinity contradicts the truth that there is only one God. They argue that Jesus alone is the one true God, and therefore that Jesus is “the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19), and not just the name of the Son. While it is certainly true that there is only one God, we must allow the Bible to define what this means. And the Bible makes it quite clear that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct persons:
- The Father sends the Son (Gal. 4:4; 1 John 4:14)
- The Father sends the Spirit (John 14:26; Gal. 4:6)
- The Son speaks, not on his own, but on behalf of the Father (John 8:28; 12:49)
- The Spirit speaks, not on his own, but on behalf of Jesus (John 16:13–15)
- The Father loves the Son, and the Son loves the Father (John 3:35; 5:20; 14:31)
- The Father and the Son count as two witnesses (John 5:31–37; 8:16–18)
- The Father and the Son glorify one another (John 17:1,4–5), and the Spirit glorifies Jesus the Son (John 16:14)
- The Son is an Advocate for us with the Father (1 John 2:1; Greek, parakletos); Jesus the Son sent the Holy Spirit, who is another Advocate (John 14:16, 26)
- Jesus Christ is not the Father, but the Son of the Father (2 John 3)
In Matthew 28:19, Jesus is not identifying himself as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is saying that Christian baptism identifies a person as one who believes in the Father, in the Son whom the Father sent to die for our sins, and in the Holy Spirit whom the Father and the Son sent to dwell in our hearts.
Argument #6
“Jesus wasn’t really fully God and fully man.”
Explanation. Throughout history many people have balked at the idea that Jesus is both fully God and fully man. They have tried to resolve this paradox by saying that Jesus was a mere man through whom God spoke, or that he was God and merely appeared to be human, or some other “simpler” belief. Admittedly the idea that in Jesus, God became a man, is difficult for us to comprehend. But the Incarnation —the truth that God became flesh—is the ultimate proof that nothing is too hard for God (Gen. 18:14; Luke 1:37). And this truth is clearly taught in the Bible.
The Bible clearly shows that Jesus was fully human
As a child, he grew physically, intellectually, socially, and spiritually (Luke 2:40, 52).
He grew tired; he slept; he sweat; he was hungry and thirsty; he bled and died; his body was buried (Matt. 4:2; 8:24; Luke 22:44; John 4:6–7; 19:28–42).
After he rose from the dead, he ate and drank with people and let them see his scars and touch his body (Luke 24:39–43; John 20:27 –29; Acts 10:41).
The Bible also clearly shows that Jesus was fully God
Jesus did on earth what only God can do: he commanded the forces of nature (Matt. 8:23–27; 14:22–33), forgave sins (Mark 2:1–12); claimed to be superior to the Sabbath law (John 5:17–18); and gave life to whomever he pleased (John 5:19-23).
Paul said that God purchased the church with his own blood (Acts 20:28).
Paul also said that the rulers of this world unwittingly crucified the Lord of glory (1 Cor. 2:8).
All the fullness of God’s nature and being resides in Jesus’ risen body (Col. 2:9).
Logic Test
If Jesus was just a man then he was either lunatic or a liar. Based on what Jesus said in John 10:30 (KJV), “I and my Father are one.” And later in John 10:38, “…that the Father is in me, and I in him. Also in John 8:58 (KJV), “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”
If you believe Jesus was just a good man, maybe even a prophet of God, but not God, then you have to contend with these statements. That would make Jesus a lunatic or a liar. He is either the Son of God or He is a lunatic or liar. He is nothing in between.
The Attributes of God
We can see how the Trinity has all of the same attributes when we take into account all of the scriptures, as we would expect from 3 forms of the same Being.
| Divine Attributes | Father | Son | Holy Spirit |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Gives life |
Gen. 1:11–31; John 5:21 |
John 1:4; John 5:21 |
Rom. 8:10–11; John 3:8 |
|
Creator of all things |
Ps. 100:3; Ps. 102:25 |
John 1:3 |
Ps. 104:30 |
|
Creator of Man |
Gen 2:7 |
Col 1:16 |
Job 33:4 |
|
Incarnation |
Heb 10:5 |
Philippians 2:7 |
Luke 1:35 |
|
Eternal |
Ps. 90:2; Rom. 16:26–27 |
John 1:2; Rev. 1:17 |
Heb. 9:14 |
|
Omnipresent (capable of being everywhere at once) |
Jer. 23:24 |
Eph. 1:23 |
Ps. 139:7 |
|
Omniscient (knows all things) |
1 John 3:20 |
John 21:17 |
1 Cor. 2:10 |
|
Atonement |
Ps. 22:15; Rom 8:32; John 3:16 |
Eph. 5:2 |
Heb. 9:14 |
|
Wills and acts supernaturally |
Eph. 1:5 |
Matt. 8:3 |
1 Cor. 12:11 |
|
Inspiration of Scriptures |
2 Tim 3:16 |
1 Pet. 1:10-11 |
2 Pet. 1:21 |
|
Strengthens believers |
Ps. 138:3 |
Phil. 4:13 |
Eph. 3:16 |
The Image of God
In Genesis 1:26 it says, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” What does it mean to be made in the image of God? We know the Father has not form. We know we don’t all look the same physically, so we are not made in the same physical image. Notice it says “make man in OUR image,”
We are made in the image of God, in that we have a mind, a body and a spirit. Think of the mind as the Father. It has no physical form and makes all of the decisions. Think of the body as the Son. Jesus is the physical manifestation of the Father, so our body is the way in which we manifest into physical reality that which is in our minds. Our Spirit is like the Holy Spirit, in that it is the eternal energy and driving force behind all that we do. God shares His Spirit with us and that is our Spirit.
Summary
The Holy Trinity represents three forms of God in one being. God the Father is the spiritual aspect of God. God the Son, Jesus Christ, is the physical aspect of God. God the Holy Spirit is the spiritual aspect in the physical bodies of all of those who believe that Jesus died for their sins.
